on the drawing board: back it up

It's funny, but I never realized how often the backdrop to my paintings are often the last thing I figure out.  I guess it's because I'm not primarily a landscape kind of guy.  I mean, I have a rough idea, whether it's indoors or out, but many times I am trying to find the perfect background after I have the figures planned out.  In this case I had the Tom of Finland collection to get an idea, and while many only have hints of a setting, I was surprised to notice many were wooded or rural.  I think here, it really helps in creating a sort of 'days gone by' feeling.